So you want to become a hacker? In this first season, I am choosing to start off by explaining a few basic concepts and theories surrounding hacking. This will not only be informative but will also reinforce your interest in the topic and prepare your mind for what’s ahead.

Later on, in the season, we will proceed to take the first real step of installing our hacking operating system from where we will be conducting our “hacking mayhem”.

These introductory lessons are especially important so that we all can be on the same page. Because what I am going to be sharing here is not so that you run off and start doing bad stuff with the wealth of information.

But so that you can actually make a career out of it and become a professional ethical hacker or pentester hacking legally for a living. And most of all doing what you love.

An ethical hacker is someone who is hired by companies or the government to find vulnerabilities in their computer systems or network before it’s accidentally or intentionally discovered by criminal hackers.

Most skilled ethical hackers have regular jobs where they are paid handsomely for improving and maintaining the system security of corporations.

Ethical hackers don’t require a certificate to get into the industry. What’s important is that you have the required skills necessary to… Continue reading

The rise in cyber attacks, cyber threats, system/software vulnerabilities, have put companies in search of cybersecurity professionals to help protect their assets.

But the problem is that there is a shortage of the cybersecurity workforce to fill these high-paying, in-demand job roles. A recent research report indicates that 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs are likely to go unfilled globally by 2021.

The cybersecurity industry will make an excellent career path because it’s young and lucrative too. The average salary in North America for a cybersecurity professional is $90,000, for example…Continue reading

To become an ethical hacker you need to possess technical skills and a little bit of talent. But the beautiful thing is that these skills can be acquired largely by learning and also by observation.

What many people might not realize is that they may have already developed skills and experience from other industries that are transferable to the cybersecurity industry. Those skills may, however, require only small tweaks for a smoother transition.

Cybersecurity is an umbrella word for a plethora of security job roles or discipline, and not all require the professional to have extreme technical abilities such as programming,…Continue reading

S01E4: Basic Hacking Terminologies You Should Know Part 1

As a newbie to hacking, you will need to get familiarized with some basic terms and terminologies in order to be able to follow along and flow well.

You may even already be familiar with some of these terms or know their English meaning, but it’s important you know the meaning from the hackers’ point of view. (If that makes sense).

Here are some of the basic terms to get you started as a beginner hacker. They will help you eliminate that feeling of an imposter in the hacking world… Coming soon

S01E5: Basic Hacking Terminologies You Should Know Part 2

After you have gotten the basic or general hacking terminologies pinned down you, you’d be ready to go deeper into some more specific terms… Coming soon

Hackers use a special operating system for conducting their hacking activities, which is the Linux operating system.

They may also use Windows as a hacking platform but that will depend on what the hacker is trying to achieve. But the preferred and most used hacking os is Linux.

There are a few ways one can choose to install Linux on their computer and begin hacking. Installing Linux on a USB or Memory Card is one, and has a few benefits to it even for advanced hackers… Continue reading

Most hackers run Linux on top of their Windows installation using virtualization. It’s the best recommendation for beginners who want to install Linux for learning to hack.

Because when using virtualization software, you can do anything on the Linux guest OS without the fear of potentially damaging your Windows host OS. And if you do mess things up in the guest OS, which you likely will, you can easily revert to how things were before the mess with just a few clicks.

There are few virtualization software or setup to choose from, but I will recommend you go with VirtualBox which is a free solution… Continue reading

Another way you can install Linux on your computer is to carve out a partition on your disk drive for it.

That way, you can experience the beauty of both⁠—the Linux & Windows—worlds in their full glory. The only caveat is that you can’t have them running simultaneously. One has to be completely invisible for the other to operate.

What are the reasons or use cases one would prefer to run Linux on dual boot?… Coming soon

The ultimate option would be to install Linux on the entire disk drive of your computer—wiping out Windows completely.

(No offense to Windows here. It’s just because I know most of you guys are coming from the Windows world. LOL)

Mind you, Linux operating systems are not just for hacking alone. They can, and are also used for everyday computing like the Mac OS and Windows… Continue reading

S01E10: Install Linux in The Cloud or VPS (hack over the World Wide Web)

As with everything that can be installed in the cloud these days, a Linux machine can also be deployed on the web for Wide Area Network hacking (WAN).

It is quite limiting with the other methods of installing Linux where you have just your computer and the computers on your Local Area Network (LAN) or local lab.

But with Linux in the cloud, a whole new world of possibilities is opened up. Because you can now leave attack scripts running for as long as you want which you can’t do on your local computer… Coming soon

Conclusion

Now I’d quickly like to say here that there is no one direct path to learning hacking. Every step you take will add up to your overall goal, so keep at it.

I really hope my little introduction to ethical hacking is useful to you. My joy will be full if at least one person does follow this resource and achieves meaningful results.

To wrap up, I’ll mention three ways to keep in touch with this series:

About The Author

My name is Ojo Iszy, I am an ethical hacker and cybersecurity expert. I started to learn hacking way back in 2014 completely through self-education. This gave me the opportunity to gain very sound & practical experience in cybersecurity and ethical hacking. Now I focus all of my time and energy teaching the best of what I have learned through the years on this blog, my YouTube channel, and in my online courses (launching soon).